Following an slew of Internet speculation earlier this week, Konami Digital Entertainment has officially confirmed that its forthcoming PlayStation 3 exclusive, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, will ship in North America on June 12, 2008.
The publisher also indicated that the game would ship with the Metal Gear Online “Starter Pack”, which allows for up to 16 players to compete against each other online.
Kazumi Kitaue, Chairman and CEO of Konami Digital Entertainment, commented, "Blockbuster events and premieres are a tradition of the summer.”
"We anticipate that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots fits that bill perfectly, and consumers will be waiting in line to get their copy of the game just like it’s a hit Hollywood movie."
In addition, consumers who pre-order the game starting in April will receive a special Metal Gear Saga 2.0 DVD, which offers a prologue recapping events throughout the series, a 20th anniversary retrospective, characters bios for Big Boss, Liquid Snake, Solidus Snake and Solid Snake, along with a selection of trailers on MGS4.
Pre-order packs will also contain a download code used to access the Metal Gear Online beta, which is scheduled to go live this April.
UPDATE:
A report on Eurogamer states that Europe will also receive the game on June 12.